


Green Lantern Earth-252525

by Mattmanganon



Series: Earth-252525 [1]
Category: DC Extended Universe, Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reimagining, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23953474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mattmanganon/pseuds/Mattmanganon
Summary: Earth-252525 is one of the many universes in the multiverse where multiple different universes converged together. Heroes and villains from all over exist together.This follows the story of young Hal Jordan, an orphaned 15 year old, drifting between foster-homes who, one day, is taken as the host of the legendary Green Lantern Ring and is taken under the wing of the Gold Lantern, Thaal Sinestro. Together, they must find each of the missing 7 Power Rings and unite them with their true hosts so they may stop the evil Galactic Warlord, Despero.
Relationships: Hal Jordan & John Stewart, Hal Jordan & Thaal Sinestro
Series: Earth-252525 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726822
Kudos: 2





	1. Beaten Green

It had been a good day for Officer Stewart. Nothing particularly bad had happened. Special Victims was usually a hellish beat, full of rape victims and abused children, but today had been good. One of his "Victims" kidnap victims had turned out to be a hoax from a dissatisfied foster child (Best possible outcome) He had finally gotten a search warrant for a pedophile's house and best of all, the lady at the sandwich shop slipped an extra gherkin into his sandwich without charging. Walking into the station, he nodded to the secretary and smiled as he headed to the elevator. Getting inside, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was going to be a quiet evening of paperwork, the best kind. The lift played the latest cheesy top-40's pop song that had been annoying him for the last 2 months, but he was determined to not let that spoil a perfectly good day. The door opened and he saw, charging towards him, a beaten and bloodied teen. "4532! GET THAT KID!" Yelled another officer. 4532 was the code for escaped suspect. Stewart lunged forward, spearing the kid almost out of his shoes and getting him on the ground.

"OOOOOOOH!" The kid wheezed "Ya got me..." John began to get up, before realizing who it was he had just brutally tackled.

"Hal?" He asked.

"Sorry, officer, i didn't get the plates..." He groaned as a pair of officers ran up and turned him over, putting cuffs on him.

"Look, Hal, i'm sorry, instincts. Look, boys, what did he do?" He asked. One of the officers looked at John.

"Vigilantism, Theft and resisting arrest."

"Ok, i did 1 and 3, but-" John glared at Hal

"NOT ANOTHER WORD!" He grunted. "I'll book him in, i'll get him talking. For the love of god, tell me you read him Miranda?" He asked. The officers nodded. "Again, Hal?" He asked as he pushed Hal towards the booking office.

Hal sat in the interrogation room, looking around at the four walls and the 2-way mirror. He had a pair of bloodied tissues up his nose, blood dried on his forehead and a blackening eye and an ice-pack on his head. "COME ON! I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!" He yelled. The door opened and John walked in.

"For crying out loud, Hal, what did you do this time?" He asked, walking over and sitting down. Hal just stared.

"Look-"

"Hal, i can't keep protecting you like this. Vigilantism, despite what the Media would have you believe is a crime."

"Bu-"

"Hal, look at me!" John ordered. Hal looked him in the eye. "Is your name Batman? Is your name Spider-Man? When it is, then i'll start looking the other way on these Vigilantism charges. As for Theft-"

"No!" Hal slammed his fist on the table. "Look, i have done a lot of shitty things in my 15 years on this planet, but i have NEVER stolen anything from anyone!"

"The officer who you lifted the keys from in that Steve McQueen impression begs to differ-"

"Besides the point, i didn't steal anything other than that today" He sighed.

"The report says that you were found with an... Emerald ring?" John asked.

"Yep, and i didn't steal it." Hal replied, burying his face in his hands.

"You found it?" Laughed John.

"Nope..." Hal replied. "It found me." John stared at him with a face that said Well, that's a new one for me "Yeah, i wouldn't believe me either..." He groaned. "But i've got proof." John continued to stare, his poker face not relenting. "That ring was put in evidence, correct?" John flicked through the report.

"Yyyyyyyyes." He replied.

"Then would you kindly explain why it's in my pocket?" He asked, pulling it out of his pocket. John got up and instinctively grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and closed it around the ring in Hal's hand. .

"THE HELL DID YOU DO!?" He roared. "YOU BROKE INTO EVIDENCE?!" John was clearly fuming, despite Hal not changing his face.

"Nope, i was locked to that chair for half an hour, then i got the keys and immediately bolted for the door. I never had any time to break into evidence. Plus, how many locks are on that door?" He asked. John's face was now just confused. "Alright, now put it in your pocket and walk out..." He said. John was confused, but complied, wrapping up the ring, he put it in his pocket, before walking out. He then looked in through the mirror and saw Hal hold up his hand, dangling the ring in it. John stormed back in.

"How did you do that?" He growled.

"Magic." John looked at him with angered disbelief this time. "Alright, let me tell you the story."

2 Hours Ago

Hal walked down an alley on his way back to his current squat, whistling. It was a little cold at this time of the year. He heard someone yelling around the corner and immediately set off at a run. Rounding the corner, he saw an old man being beaten by a man whilst the other one grabbed his wallet. "Hey, leave him alone." The 2 men looked at him, one of them grabbed a pipe. "You want to take on someone, try me, i got more cash than him." Hal yelled. The 2 men ran towards him, Hal ran towards them as well.

Dodging under a swing from the pipe, Hal pressed his feet firmly on the ground, before pressing forward and lunging into the mans chest, tackling him to the ground. As he leaned up and punched the man he tackled across the face, he was grabbed from behind, under his arms. He instinctively went limp, letting his hands flail a little as he tried to slip through the grasp, but it was futile and he was dragged off, before the man he tackled got back up and punched him in the face, before grabbing the pipe and delivering one last blow, leaving Hal on the floor, blood spirting from his forehead, he coughed heavily, a hoarse cough. He tried to crawl to the wall, trying to get up.

"STAY DOWN!" The man called, smacking the pipe into Hal's back and he fell down the wall, before trying to get up again. "Tell you what, this kid doesn't quit. Think you're fucking Iron Man or something?" He asked. He tried to get up again as the pipe went into the back of his skull, smacking his nose into brick, he fell down coughing again, this time, a little vomit came out. Blood spraying from his nose. Hal tried to get up again, the world going dark. Then suddenly bright.

"So this is what death feels like..." He giggled in his throes. Then it went Green "Wait, that's different..." Suddenly, everthing felt good... The pain started to melt away.

"HAL JORDAN, I SENSE GREAT WILL IN YOUR HEART! SAY THE OATH AND JOIN OUR RANKS!"

Hal opened his mouth as his eyes started to glow

"In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night

No Evil Shall Escape My Sight

Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might

Beware My Power, Green Lantern's Light!"

Hal suddenly was stood, staring at the men, his clothes were different. One of the Men began to run. Hal put his hand forward and, bursting from the ring, was a giant hand that streamed forward and wrapped around the man, before pulling him back and hitting his partner in crime with him. The two men sprawled onto the floor. One got up and swung the pipe at him, A Green sword appeared and shattered the pipe in his hands, before another fist appeared and the mugger was down for the count. Hal stood shaking, he looked at his hand and saw the green ring. He pulled it off and the light disappeared, his clothes going back to the bloody, slightly vomit-soiled mess they were previously. At that point, a pair of police rushed into the alley.

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" Yelled one of them, pointing his gun at them. Hal threw the ring down and one of the cops grabbed it with a handkerchief and put it into a ziplock bag, before cuffing Hal. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions..."

John stared at him again. "What the fuck was that?" He asked.

"Well, if you let me put the ring on, i can prove it-"

"NO!" John grabbed Hal's hand. "Do NOT put that on... Look, i don't know if it is Magic or not, but if you put that on then there's nothing i can do to protect you..." John buried his face in his hands "Alright... Here's the deal... I can reduce the Vigilantism to Defense of Another, i can get the Theft dropped, but you shouldn't have run. Resisting Arrest is only a Misdemeanor, so nothing that will keep you out of the Military, but i will need to turn you over to your foster parents-"

"No deal!" Hal yelped.

"It's that or bye-bye Air-Force." John growled. Hal flexed his fingers in thought.

"What if-"

"You don't get it, do you?" Asked John "There's no negotiation in this, i'm handing you a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card. You can take it or leave it."

"I can't go back to them..." Hal groaned. "My "Dad" is going to kill me because i set his weed plants on fire."

"Weed as in..."

"Cannabis, Ganja, Kush, Hash, whatever you call it, smokey-feel-good." John stared daggers at Hal.

"If you're lying-"

"It's Bye-Bye Air-Force, i know." Hal leaned back and crossed his arms. John got up and walked to the door, looking out and seeing that nobody was watching. He walked back to the desk and sat down.

"Mention this ring to no-one. There are some fucked up stories going around with what happens to people with things like that..."

"What about the other guys, they'll say i-"

"It was Superman... Or Spider-Man... Claim it was anyone else, do not let anyone else know who you are and what you can do. In the meantime... I'm going to get on to investigating your fosters. You'll be held in custody whilst we decide the next course of action." He got up and walked out. "Chin up..." He replied, as he was closing the door.

2 weeks later

Hal sat in an office. Today was the day that he would meet his new Foster parents. He sat at the desk and let out a sigh. He was already making plans for an escape. The door opened. "Hal, this is Thomas." the Social Worker said. "We know that you have had a real problem with multiple authority figures, so we thought that a single parent might be more your speed." The man that walked in was not what Hal expected.

"Hello, Hal. It's nice to meet you." The man said with an emotionless face. "Can we have a moment alone?" He asked. The Social worked smiled and nodded, before leaving the room. Thomas walked over to the door and made sure the woman wasn't looking in. She had gone to get a coffee "Alright, Hal, let me level with you, i'm not a foster parent." He said.

"Thank god?" Hal asked with a confused expression. "Or is this one of those "Waking up in a bathtub full of ice without my liver" things?" Thomas stared at him, not understanding what he was saying.

"I'm like you." He said, completely ignoring what Hal had just asked. He showed him the Golden Ring

"I... Don't know..."

"In brightest day, in blackest night..." Thomas said.

"You know? Are you a Green Lantern too?" He asked.

"No, you are THE Green Lantern. I'm the Gold Lantern."

"Gold is so much cooler than green..." Hal sighed.

"I was the leader of the Lanterns until recently, when your predecessor was killed. The Rings look for those most worthy to wield them. You have been chosen. If you want to know more, then you tell that social worker that you're happy to come home with me... If you want me to take the ring and give it to someone else, give you your life back, I can do that... Your choice." For Hal, time stopped. What the hell was he supposed to do? If he went with this man then he was opening up the pandora's box that he couldn't close... The door opened and Hal launched himself into Thomas' arms, embracing him in a hug.

"I LOVE YOU DADDY!" He yelled as the Social Worker dropped her coffee.


	2. Enter Stage Left

The door to the spacious house opened and Hal walked through with his bags, looking around. "So..." He grinned "Dad" The smile widened from ear to ear "where's my room going to be?" He asked. Thomas followed him in with the Social Worker.

"Well, i prepared a room for you upstairs" he stated, staring at the Social Worker.

"I'm so happy to see Hal getting along with you." She smiled, before leaning into Thomas "He's a tricky one, he'll try to escape the first chance he gets." She whispered.

"Holly, i PROMISE, that's behind me now." He gave a big, innocent smile. Thomas shook his head, before looking at Holly.

"I've dealt with rebellious children before." He replied, pushing her away a little.

"Ah yes, the daughter you mentioned. Where is she?" She looked around.

"I had to leave her back in..." He paused for a second.

"England?" the Social Worker asked.

"Yes! Yes, that's right." Thomas replied. The Social Worker watched Hal head upstairs. The house was a small, two-story house in the suburbs of Coast City, about 10 minutes drive from the ocean.

"How the hell did you afford all of this?" Hal yelled from upstairs.

"I have a lot of connections in the world, as well as some back home." He replied. Holly looked at her clip-board.

"Alright, i have some other clients to see, but that should be everything." She leaned in close "If he gets loose, call us." She whispered then turned around and walked out. Thomas closed the door behind her.

"Green Lantern, get down here!" Thomas called. Hal skipped down the stairs to see Thomas stood in the hallway. "Time to get you up to speed on how this is going to work." He walked into the dining room and Hal followed. This room had no windows to the outside, just a large fire-place and a table with chairs. Thomas balled up his fist and the Golden ring appeared, before he transformed. Exploding in a flash of golden light. He then stood in a gold and black spandex-looking piece. He was also looking decidedly less human, his forehead more pronounced, his skin a rose-colour and his eyes a piercing yellow, his ears had grown pointed, like Mr Spock's.

"In blackest day, in brightest night!"

"Beware your fears made into light"

"Let those who try to stop what's right,"

"Be burned by the power, The Golden Light!"

"Wow..." Hal stood, staring in total awe at Thomas. "So... You're an alien, like Superman?" He asked.

"Superman? Ah yes, the Kryptonian, sort of, but my people are more like yours, lacking any real power on our homeworld." He replied.

"And Thomas isn't your name, is it?"

"My name is Thaal Sinestro. I am the Gold Lantern and the champion of all that is good and just in the universe. My homeworld was constantly raided by slavers and warlords, until i showed them how to feel fear. That was when the Golden Ring chose me. It represents the power to instill fear into the hearts of those who would transgress. You wield the Green ring, it represents the power of Will, to keep going forward and never stop, regardless of what stands in your way." Hal balled up his own fist

In brightest day, in blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight!

Let those who worship evil's might

Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!

He yelled as he transformed too. "So, you said that you were the leader of "The Lanterns" Is it just the two of us or are there more?" He asked. Thaal nodded.

"Yes, The Lanterns consist of 7 Lanterns in total." His ring glowed before projections of the other rings appeared. "Blue represents Hope, the most incorruptible force in the universe. Orange represents Averice, for those who's heart is filled with an insatiable need for justice and an inability to stop until it has been despensed. Indigo represents Compassion, those who cannot help but always do what is best for everyone, to see the best in them and to always help in any way they can. Star Sapphire, Love. The Lantern who fight to protect everything they hold dear and true in the universe. And Red, that represents Rage, for those who can harness the greatest rage at the existence of evil in the universe."

"So, we're going to go fight bad guys and save the universe?" Hal asked, unable to contain his excitement.

"No." Sinestro replied, bluntly. "The other Lanterns are dead. This fault lies with an immensely powerful villain by the name of Despero." A hologram of him appeared from Sinestro's ring. Despero was a 7 foot tall, muscular being, with red skin. He had 3 eyes and a large fin across the top of his head, almost like a roman centurions plumes. His teeth were jagged and his look was monstrous. the hologram came to life, it showed Sinestro and the other lanterns silently attacking despero, but him defeating them with his eye-blasts, fire power and sword, until only Sinestro remained. "I took the rings and fled. But he wasn't going to give up that easily." He said. "He destroyed my barrier." the Hologram followed Sinestro's every word. "And the rings were scattered in this direction, they all landed on this planet. I have been tracking the rings down, but haven't been able to find them bond with anyone... Until i found out about you."

"I feel honoured." Hal chirped.

"You should... You should also feel afraid, because Despero is coming." He said. "He wasn't able to give chase immediately, but it won't find him terribly long. I have until he finds us to whip you into shape, make you superior to my old friends and gather the other rings. Then, we may be able to stand a chance against him. Your training shall start tomorrow, for the moment, it's a lot to take in, you will find me a hard teacher, but a fair one."

"Alright, and don't worry, this Despero guy seems tough, but he hasn't met Hal Jordan." He pumped his arm.

"That's what Abin said..."

"Who?" Hal asked. Sinestro looked down and breathed a heavy sigh of sadness.

"Abin Sur... Your predecessor... And my oldest friend."

"I'm... Sorry." Hal whispered.

"Don't be sorry, be willful." Thaal ordered. "Abin died doing what he knew was right, we all knew the risks and i know he had no regrets. If you want to show me that you are sorry that he died, then you will not die. You will show him that the man he passed his ring onto will surpass him and do a better job than he ever could."

"Alright." Hal nodded. "Where do we start?" He asked.

"Not going to take time to adjust?" He asked.

"Never have before, don't ever plan to start. Despero is on his way and taking time for myself is only wasting precious time. How do we find the other rings?" He asked. Thaal smiled a little.

"Alright, the rings are going to start looking for whoever exibits their trait the most and try to latch onto them. I've spotted a few attempts from the last few weeks, but the Rings haven't been able to bond properly and have moved onto a new target." He said, a golden map of earth appeared. He pointed to New York City on it "First was a large Lizard mutant that the Red Ring chose, but it wasn't able to bond properly, i fought the man until he was forced to let go of it, but the ring slipped through my fingers." He then pointed to a small island off the coast of Malaysia "The locals call this place "Madripoor" I tracked the Orange ring here to some criminal, he caused a lot of damage before it escaped.

"I'm beginning to see a pattern..." Hal sighed.

"I'm not able to do this alone. With the two of us, the next time a ring appears, we should be able to stop it, and capture the ring before it escapes." Hal looked down at his own ring.

"So... How do these things even work?" He asked. "I know i can make swords and hands and stuff, but-" Sinestro looked at him with a face of utter disbelief.

"You mean... You've had the ring for 2 weeks and you haven't even used it, outside of the first time yet?" He asked. "Who knows you have the ring?"

"Well, Detective Stewart. He's been my best friend ever since i can remember. He told me not to use it so i don't draw attention to myself. I hear there's some shady government agencies like the Illuminati that kidnap young people with super-powers and brainwash them." Thaal rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Uuuuuuugh... We have a lot more work to do than i thought..." He grabbed Hal's ring hand and picked it up. "This ring is powered by your emotions and your imagination."

"So, if i imagined-" At that point, a giant green sandwich appeared in front of him.

"Always a sandwich..." Thaal sighed "Just once, i'd like someone's first construct to be something other than food... Anyway, yes. You need to be able to use this as if it was a natural reflex." He explained. "For example-" At that point, a yellow sword jumped from Sinestro's ring and sliced the sandwich into several pieces.

"Is that why Despero wants the Rings so badly?"

"He wants the Rings, because with all 7 rings, he will become invincible."

"How?" Hal asked.

"Look, don't ask so many questions about what Despero will do if he gets the rings, let's focus on making sure you never have to find out." Thaal grunted. Thaal then walked towards the back door and into the back garden. He then rocketted into the sky.

"We can fly?" He asked. "Super-cool!" He then jumped and, by instinct, rocketted up after Sinestro. "SO AWESOME!" He yelled, flying past Sinestro. Sinestro sighed as he followed Hal into the clouds. "I've never felt anything like this! Can we go fight bad guys? Can we save some people from a sinking ship? Can we-"

"HAL!" Sinestro snapped. "Get ahold of yourself. We have pressing matters. Yes, we will stop evil as we find it, but our top objective right now is to get you trained into the true Green Lantern and finding the other 5 rings. Hal stopped and nodded.

"Yeah, alright, show me how." He asked. Sinestro summoned a golden sword in his hands.

"Defend yourself." He ordered.

****

3 hours later

****

Sinestro helped Hal up the stairs of the appartment, arm over his shoulder. "Let me back in, coach... I'm good for one more round..." Hal grogily mumbled, his eye was black, his lip and nose bleeding.

"You did well. I remember when Abin first taught me like this. Consider yourself lucky that you can walk on the one leg."

"But Holly... She'll take me away... If i look like this..." Sinestro nodded.

"Don't worry about that." Sinestro replied. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we go on the hunt."

"I'll be ready at dawn..." He groaned, rolling onto the bed and falling asleep almost instantly. Sinestro made his way back downstairs, sitting down at the computer, he began typing away at it.

****

Deep Space, just outside Kree Territory

****

 _"This is K.M.S. Kortosis of Merchant Floatilla Ruul, we are under attack from multiple enemy vessels, our shields have failed and we are being boarded. Mayday, MaydAAAAAAAAAAHH!"_ The eerie message echoed through space, but there was no-one close enough to hear and even had they been. It would have taken nothing short of a full sized Kree Battlefleet to help. On the bridge of the Kortosis, a Skrull stood, a blade between his two thumbs, with the pommel in one and the tip in the other. He was tall, even for a Skrull and wore a blue jumpsuit with knee-high leather boots and a leather jacket with armoured shoulder pads, he was, covered in spikes, reminiscent of a Biker's outfit.

"For the last time... Where is the Green Lantern of this sector? We know that you rendered him help 3 days ago. You can tell me, or you can tell Lord Despero when he arrives. I offer you a quick and painless death. Milord will not be so kind." The Skrull asked the captain. The bridge of the ship was completely torn to shreds with weapon fire having destroyed most of it. The Kree captain staired daggers at the Skrull. He pulled out his pistol and pressed it into the Kree's forehead "For the last time, it's my bullet, or Lord Despero's Pyre..." The Kree spat in his face. "Well, don't say i didn't warn you." He punched the Kree across the face hard, a tooth flying free from the Kree's lips.

"As amusing as it is to see you hurt this man, my underling, it is not going to get us anywhere." Said a deep and powerful voice as the door opened and Lord Despero walked through.

"L-l-l-l-lord Despero..." The Kree stammered, he began to shake in his bonds. "Please, Skrull, i beg of you, end me now. I'll tell you everything." The Skrull stepped away before transforming into a beautiful Kree woman, he blew the captain a kiss, before transforming back into Skrull form and kneeling at Despero's feet.

"Yes, little Kree, you are correct to be afraid. But you wound me with your begs to die so quickly. Does my magnificence not please you? Does the entropic nature of my splendor gouge at your very soul?" he asked, there was a laughter from a man in the corner. The man stepped out of the shadows to reveal he was covered from head to toe in chrome-like armour A single red strip across his face appeared to be his only form of vision.

"Milord, i suspect this one thinks he is superior to you. Maybe he thinks that he is too good to bask in your presence." The colour drained from the Kree's face. "Give the order and i'll send him to have fun with the Dire Wraiths." He said, pointing a strange device in his hand at him.

"Oh come, come," Despero began "This man is an honoured guest. His people now belong to me, those smart enough to surrender have a place in my fleet. After all, a ruler who scorches the earth of every conquest rules naught but a kingdom of ashes. Don't you agree?" He asked, walking towards the captain and picking him up by clamping his hand onto the side of the captains cheeks. He nodded the Kree's head for him. "See? This one is smart. And you said that he wasn't smart enough to take my offer. Now, to seal the deal, you just need to tell me everything about the Green Lantern that you helped." The Kree stared at him, too afraid to speak, too afraid to move. "Come now, this is a very generous offer on my part. Do you not wish to live?"

"I'm... Sorry... He saved my daughter... You can do what you want... But i cannot give him up... On my honour..." At that point, Despero slammed the Kree's head into one of the broken consoles.

"HONOUR!? WHAT DO THE KREE KNOW OF HONOUR!?" he roared. "WHEN MY PEOPLE WERE DYING AND WE ASKED FOR AID, THE KREE WERE NO-WHERE TO BE SEEN, NOR THE SKRULLS, THE LANTERNS, THE THANAGARIANS, THE SHI'AR, NOT EVEN YOUR PRECIOUS SPACEKNIGHTS! He roared, pointing to Bakin. He then began to laugh "Ah, you made me angry. I like that in a subordinate Now, here's your last chance, tell me, or i will keep on tearing your mind apart and stitching it back together, until i get what i want to know." The Kree's mouth gibbered and he wept, blood and snot flowing from his nose.

"I... I... I CAN'T!" He wept. Despero brought him face to face.

"Then you will die braver than most..." Despero's third eye opened and a red ray shot into the Kree's head. The Kree began to gibber and burble as the life drained from his face. He slowly began to melt, as if being hollowed out and made into nothing more than a lump of skin. "Well, how about that? He didn't know anyway." Despero laughed dropping the flesh to the floor with a splat. He then walked out, being followed by Skrull and Spaceknight. "I liked that man, find his daughter, give her a nice position in the fleet." He smiled "Anyone that harms her has to answer to me." Walking down the hallway. before getting to the end, he nodded to his underlings, before disappearing in a roar of fire. He appeared again back in the throne-room of his ship.

"Milord, i question why you choose to interrogate prisoners personally." A woman said from the corner, she had blue skin, golden eyes, black leather straps that supported her ample breasts and covered parts of her body that left little to the imagination. Her raven hair flowing with whisps and a ragged black cape that made it difficult to tell where her hair stopped and the cape started. By her side, a book sat in her hand with a chain running down the spine and wrapped around the woman's body, attached to her neck with a golden chain.

"Because i rarely get to use my power these days. I enjoy the flexing of muscles" He said, tensing up his rippling rose flesh that bulged.

"As is your prerogative." The woman nodded

"Lyssa, what does your magic book say about finding Sinestro?" he asked, sitting in his throne and staring out of the main viewport. Lyssa placed her hand on the book, before a gold symbol appeared on it. Her eyes began to glow as the book opened and the pages illuminated the entire room with a golden light.

"I see a planet covered in water. I see... The Nightstalker who walks in day... The Last Son of Krypton... The son of the Allfather and the daughter of the Thunderer... The great Mindwalker and his unstoppable brother... I can see nothing more..." Her eyes glowed yellow as she spoke.

"Krypton? No wonder he has chosen to hide from us there. If it is protected by a Kryptonian, then we will have to tread lightly... Start searching the databases for a planet that fits that description. I am curious to see what little backwater stain on the universe he is hiding on." Despero grinned from ear to ear.

"Wait, milord... There is another... The son of Alan Scott..." Despero looked at her, his smile disappearing

"You are certain of this?" He asked

"Milord, i would not say so otherwise." she whispered, as the book closed, she then bowed to him. Despero contemplated his next move. Things were starting to become even more dangerous by the second. He looked out at the field of destruction that the battle had wrought, fragments of ships still exploding as they drifted into each other. Somewhere in the universe was Sinestro and that which was promised to him and he would not rest until it was his. He didn't care if he had to doublecross the bastard who promised him, he was getting it. He and he alone was worthy to rule this universe.


	3. Falling Up

The name Horace Wilks means nothing to you. In fact, it means nothing to almost everyone. Not that Horace see's this as a bad thing, he's a simple man with simple needs and desires. He was married straight out of highschool and has beautiful house with 2 daughters. Waking up this morning, he could hear the latest cheesy pop-song on the radio alarm. He looked at the alarm to see the time "10:01" He grabbed the clock as he quickly realized what was happening. This was the third time he had slept through his alarm this month, that was grounds for disciplinary action. Quickly leaping out of bed, he ran over to the wardrobe, pulling his clothes out and pulling them on as quickly as he could, before running out of the house. He looked around, not seeing his car. "What the fu... UUUUUGH!" He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed his wife. "Hello, dear, where's the car? What do you need it for? Well, i need it. Why didn't you wake me?" He asked. "AAaaaaaaaaahhh!" He roared, before running off down the street to try, in vain, to make it to work before he was fired. As he began to run, the heavens opened and sheets of rain pelted down.

By the time he had gotten to the city center, he had given up. Looking at his phone, he saw the time was 10:26 and he was hungry. Well, if he was going to be late and soaking wet anyway, better be late on a full stomach. Horace entered the McDonalds and waited in the que for several minutes, leaving immense puddles of rainwater dripping off of him, before finally being seen.

"Hello, can i please get a sausage and egg McMuffin meal? Large coffee." He asked. The woman behind the till pointed to the clock. 10:31. "Look, i'm not having a good day, can you please just give me an egg McMuffin meal?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but i'm not allowed to serve breakfast after 10:30am." Horace grunted in frustration. He then saw someone getting handed a pancake breakfast meal.

"Well, then why is he getting served?" He asked.

"That customer obviously made the order before 10:30." The woman replied with a smile. Horace's face soured even more. He looked at his phone to see 10:29 on it.

"Hey, it's not even 10:30 yet, look." He showed her his phone.

"I'm afraid that your phone must be running slow, sir."

"Have you ever heard the expression, the customer is always right?" He asked. He then saw the clock on his phone flip over to 10:30.

"Yes i have, and your phone now says that it's 10:30, i'm afraid that i cannot serve you breakfast. May i offer you a Big Tasty?"

"No you may not offer me a big tasty, i don't want a big tasty, i want an egg mcmuffin." He growled.

"Well, i'm sorry, i'm afraid that there is nothing i can do." She replied, big smile still across her face. Horace looked around, before looking behind her and seeing a whole row of egg mcmuffins on the pre-made bench behind her.

"Wait, can't i just buy one of those? You're going to throw them away anyway." She turned around and looked at the row.

"Ooooh, i'm sorry, but it's past 10:30, i am afraid that i could lose my job for selling you one of those."

"BUT YOU'RE GOING TO THROW THEM AWAY!" He yelled.

"Sir, if you are not satisfied with the lunch menu, then you can speak to the manager, or call our offices." She said. Horace didn't even care that he was getting later for work by the second, this was a matter of principle.

"Yes i would. Get your manager down here right now." He ordered. She spoke into a mic and a few moments later, the manager arrived.

"Hello sir, can i help you?" Asked the manager.

"Yes, you can, i want to buy an egg mcmuffin, one of those ones sat right there and about to get thrown away!" Horace demanded.

"Was this employee refusing to sell one to you?" The manager asked.

"Yes, she kept on saying "BuT iTS pAsT 10:30!" Despite the fact that it was 10:28." He growled.

"I'm sorry, sir, but it's past 10:30 and we aren't allowed to sell them anymore. We could lose our license." The manager replied.

"SELL ME THE FUCKING BURGER!" Horace snapped.

"Sir, if you will not remain calm, i'm afraid that we are going to have to call the police." Horace wasn't paying attention anymore as he watched an employee picking up the tray of muffins and taking them to the back to throw them in the dumpster and all he could feel was the purest of anger. He only wanted this one thing to brighten up his already pretty shitty day.

"Horace..." A voice said. Horace looked around, he could see the manager still talking at him, but he couldn't hear a word the man was trying to say. "Horace Wilks, we sense in you a great rage. Say the oath and join our ranks." As the manager continued to talk at Horace, he saw the mans eyes starting to turn red, before his teeth sharpened, red foam started to pour from his mouth.

"Umm... Sir... Are you alright?" asked the manager.

"With blood and rage of crimson red,

From the corpse of the innocent, so freshly dead,

Together with our Righteous hate,

We'll burn all evil-that is your fate!"

Horace's clothes exploded, revealing a crimson red business suit with black lines, spikes running down the sleeves and the Red Lantern Logo over his breast-pocket. his eyes were now a burning red. Red fists of energy lanced out, punching the till operator and the manager in the face, before he let out a roar and a shockwave of red energy erupted through the McDonalds, throwing over tables and smashing the windows. Horace stomped through the carnage outside, before red hands of energy launched up to the golden arches and pulled them down and throwing them across the street. People were now running away screaming.

"BURN EVERYTHING! BURN!" He roared as he opened his mouth and a beam of fire shot from it, setting the McDonalds sign on fire.

The Green Lantern

Hal awoke in his bed, he patted himself over, remembering yesterdays training session with Sinestro. He crawled out of bed. "Shit, this is bad..." He groaned. If the social worker saw that he was injured, they would remove him immediately. Rushing over to a mirror to see how bad it was, he noticed that his face was fine... As was the rest of him, he looked down at his bare chest... He was more... Well toned than he remembered being. "Umm... Tom!" He called. Sinestro strode into the room in his human disguise.

"Excellent, you must have sensed it too. Quick, charge up and then we'll go."

"Go? Go where? Look at me, i've got pecks!" Hal chirped.

"The Ring heals your body and makes sure that it is in peak condition to wield it." In a flash of light, Sinestro was now in his Gold Lantern form.

"Oh, yeah!" Hal ran out of the room and downstairs.

"Wait," Sinestro called after him. Hal donned his costume in a flash of green light and ran out the back before jumping into the air, but this time, he just fell straight back down.

"What the... Come on, ring. Up-Up and away! Come on! To infinity and beyond! In brightest day, in blackest night no evil shall escape my-WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING!?" He called to Sinestro.

"Because you didn't give me the chance to give you this." Sinestro handed him a Strange lantern "Where do you think we got the name "Lanterns" from?" he asked.

"Ok... Weird, but i'll take it, how do i use it?" He asked.

"Put the ring in the torch and speak the oath." Sinestro replied. Hal did as he was told.

"In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night

No Evil Shall Escape My Sight

Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might

Beware My Power, Green Lantern's Light!"

As Hal finished the oath, green energy permeated his entire body. "Wow..." Hal smiled. "That felt pretty good."

"Good, then let us go." Sinestro said, before launching into the sky. Hal following him.

"So, if the rings need charging, then this should be easy." Hal said "We wait for the rogue rings to run out of juice and find them then."

"An astute observation and a good plan!" Sinestro replied. Hal put on his smug grin. "If that was how the rings worked." Hals smile faded. "Everyone is filled with these emotions and the rings are attracted to those who have a lot of their specific emotion. When they attach to the body, they drain it of all of that emotion, focus it and then use up the body until it's completely spent. If that person doesn't have an affinity for that emotion, like we do, then the ring will move on. If it does, then we will have our new recruit." He replied.

"Cool. So, what are we doing?" Hal asked.

"The Red Lantern Ring has shown itself. Tearing up downtown." The two finally arrived to see Horace advancing on a pair of police that were emptying clip after clip of ammunition into him, a red shield blocking it. "Damn, he's not got an affinity."

"How can you tell?" Hal asked.

"He's not in control, the Ring is just forcing him to feel nothing but unbridled rage. We need to stop him before he can do any real damage." Sinesto and Hal swooped down towards Horace. Horace looked at them.

"More misbegotten brethren!" He roared, before a red TeC-9 appeared in each hand and he pointed them firing wildly. Hal immediately created a shield, but Sinestro simply dodged out of the way of the bullets.

"Green Lantern, we need to flank him, get the ring off of his hand!" Sinestro called.

"Right, Gold." Hal replied. Hal lunged straight for him, deflecting bullets with his green shield, before Horace opened his mouth and a beam of blood-like energy blasted at Hal, breaking through a part of his shield and sending him to the ground. Hal rolled, before getting back up and began running. The green energy formed into a bazooka as he pointed it at Horace and pulling the trigger. Horace grabbed the green missile with one of his red hands and pulled it to his face, he gripped the missile between his teeth and bit down until it exploded. At that point, Sinestro grappled Horace into a full-Nelson.

"GET THE RING!" He yelled. Hal began to fly towards Horace, but his mouth opened and Hal was hit by a beam of red energy, sending him sprawling backwards as he got a shield up at the last moment.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Horace let out an ungodly scream, Sinestro was forced to let go and grab his ears as Horace turned around and began punching Sinestro back and forth across the face with the red fists, before summoning a pair of baseball bats and continuing to hit him. Hal rushed fowards again, just as Horace grabbed onto Sinestro's head by the temples, before opening his mouth and his mouth glowing. There was a loud bang as Horace stopped and turned around to see Officer Stewart.

"Drop the magic ring and stand down, sir!" He yelled. Horace stared at Stewart before dropping Sinestro and rushing for him, getting body-checked mid flight by Hal.

"Get back, officer!" Hal yelled. Steward fired a few more shots at Horace, before running back for his car. Sinestro was now back up and rushed over to Horace, a clamp made out of golden energy slammed around Horace. Hal reached a hand down and grabbed his hand, before finally managing to wrench the ring away. He held it in his hand before the ring began to wriggle and writhe, Hal clamped both hands around it. "Gold, we got a live-one!" He yelled as the Ring desperately tried to get away. Sinestro shot a beam around the ring, wrapping it in gold energy. Hal pulled his hands out and sighed. He looked over at Horace who was laying naked in the street. "Officer, want to give Nature Boy here your coat or something?" He called over to Stewart. John walked over to Horace and stared at Hal the entire time. He put his coat over Horace, before cuffing him. He then leaned over to his radio

"Stewart to dispatch, we need a bus and a wagon on West Phillimore street. Suspect in custody." He walked over to Hal and Sinestro, shaking their hands each. "Thanks for the save." He then leaned into Hal "We are going to have a talk later..." He then leaned back, before walking over to Horace and staring over at Hal as the two Lanterns slowly raised into the sky.

"So... We have it... Now what?" He asked.

"Little choice in the matter, we're going to have to wait for the Hero of Rage to show himself. I'll bleed some of its energy off to keep it from escaping. If we can calm it, then the next time it goes active will be when the true Red Lantern makes himself known."

"Convoluted... But it makes sense." Hal sighed.

"Tell Detective Stewart whatever you like, but do not tell him about me. As far as he is to be concerned, i'm just a regular human." Hal nodded as they flew back towards the house.


	4. Training Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sinestro finds Hal to be thinking with his fists too much, so forces him to start thinking bigger.

Hal and Sinestro had arrived back home. Sinestro walked through the house to the cupboard under the stairs. the yellow energy surrounding the red ring beginning to show strain as the red ring constantly beat against the construct. "Um, Sinestro, that ring isn't looking so good. Looks REALLY pissed."

"It's the ring of Rage. i don't know how you expected it to act." Sinestro grunted as he pressed a finger into the door. After a few seconds, he opened the door and it was a staircase leading down.

"Wait, when did we get a lair installed?" Hal asked, staring down.

"I arrived on Earth a month ago, did you really think i spent the entire time sitting around watching this planets form of entertainment broadcast?" He asked. Hal shrugged, he was still coming to terms with the "Chosen one" thing that he had going on, he wasn't thinking too much about what everyone else was doing. He hadn't even seen several of his friends ever since he got the ring. Hammond was probably up to his eyeballs in loansharks coming for his kneecaps and Carol... Well, she was loaded, she'd be fine. The two of them headed down the stairs. At the bottom, lights flicked on to reveal a small room, about 20mx20m with flawlessly, pearly white walls and a large glowing tube in the middle, the colours swirling around matched the 7 Lantern colours.

"Ah, the big glowing tube. Wouldn't be a sci-fi lair without a big glowy tube, really ties the whole thing together." He laughed. Sinestro walked over to a console and pressed a few buttons, before lowering the red ring to the console. A glass tube snapped up and around the ring, cutting the yellow energy. The Red ring seemed to growl as it beat mercilessly against the glass, but the glass was resilient, not showing any signs of cracking. Sinestro pressed a few buttons and the ring began to glow as it relentented its assault, the ring finally stopped glowing and floated peacefully in the tube.

"The Red ring is secured. The console will continue to keep its power at a constant. Just don't get angry around it. Now, time for my evaluation of your first mission." Sinestro approached Hal.

"Let's see, we beat the bad guy, nobody died, and we are now 3 rings down with 4 to go, i think i did-"

"Painfully average" Sinestro cut in, bluntly. Hal's face went from pride to shock.

"PAINFULLY AVERAGE?!" He yelled.

"I told you not to get angry with the red ring around." Sinestro continued "Yes, we won, but you barely used your ring for anything other than making fists. You have access to one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, you need to start using it." He said.

"I didn't see you using anything bigger." Hal replied.

"I saw no need to use anything else. I will give you points for creativity with the Bazooka and it's a good start, but for this mission, my final grade is a painfully average. I've seen..." Sinestro stopped himself.

"Seen what?" Hal asked. Sinestro walked away, back up the stairs.

"Charge your ring and follow me." He ordered.

Midday, Small island in the Pacific

Sinesto and Hal landed on the beach. Sinesto looked into his ring as projected a map of the area. "No human life around. Good." He said. He turned back to Hal. "Alright, now come at me, properly this time."

"Look, Sinestro, you didn't need to drag me out into the middle of the damn pacific to kick the crap out of me. We could have stayed home and did that."

"Not this way." He grinned, sinisterly. Sinestro's ring glowed as it began to project a 40 foot tall, golden version of himself. "Now, attack me!" He ordered as the giant brought a fist down on him. Hal immediately surrounded himself with a green shield. "You keep using that ring for defense. I've seen you defend yourself pretty good, now use it to attack!" Sinestro called. The giant retreated its fist to bring it in for another swing. Hal broke his shield and rocketted into the air, creating a giant fist and punching the Giant. "STOP THINKING WITH YOUR FISTS, YOU CAN CREATE ANYTHING!" He yelled.

"I know..." Hal grunted as he swung at the Giant with the giant fist again, keeping it off-ballance. He then created another Bazooka and shot at it again. This time, the giant easily batted away the missiles.

"You're becoming too predictable. You need to think bigger." Hal flexed his fingers, trying to think, the Giant went to swing at him, he shot a shield towards the hand, but in response, the giant swung at him with the other hand, punching Hal to the ground. "TRY SOMETHING ELSE!" Sinestro snapped. Hal spat out a mouthful of sand, before standing up. Hal seethed at it.

"Alright, you king-kong lookin'..." Something clicked in Hal's head before he jumped into the air, creating a Bi-Plane construct around himself. the plane flew out of the giants reach, before coming around and beginning to shoot at it with the machine guns.

"Good, but think bigger." He ordered. As the plane finished its pass, the Giant narrowly missing the tail of the plane as it grabbed. Hal stuck his ring hand out of the plane and, before he knew it, the Giant was being forced into the sky as a replica of the Empire State Building appeared bellow it. "Impressive..." Sinestro mumbled. The giant clung to the top of the skyscraper As the Bi-Plane came around again, pelting the giant with machine gun fire, the Giant went to swing at it, but the Plane disappeared as the hand swiped for him, Hal's smaller form now slipped straight through its fingers, before he made impact, he made a construct of a giant green gorilla around himself, as big as the Giant, before plowing straight into the Gold construct. The Gorilla punched the giant across the face. "You're starting to understand." Sinestro called. The gorilla grabbed the Giants head as its feel clung to the side of the building. It began to crush the giants head. The giant looked back at the Gorilla and shot lasers at it from its eyes.

"Wait, that's not fair, you can't shoot lasers from your eyes." Hal called.

"That's not me, it's a construct that looks like me. The only limits to its power is my imagination." Sinestro called. The Gorilla was forced back by the laser eyes, before it fell down the building a big, but began to climb back up, the Giant leaning over to shoot at it. The Gorilla was forced to put up a hand to stop the lasers from hitting its head.

"Well, in that case, looks like Kong is about to get some upgrades." He grinned. The Gorilla let go of the building as a cape appeared out of its back and it put one fist forward, bringing the other under its chest. A large shield with a K appearing on its chest as it rocketed towards the Giant, punching it in the face, then again, then blasting it with lasers from its own eyes, then opening its mouth and blowing at the Giant, Green energy launched from the gorilla's lips as large shards of green ice pelted the Giant, The Gorilla swiftly kicked the Giant, before flipping off of it and the Gorilla's fists changed to Gatling guns, a relentless barrage now blasting the Giant from its mouth, eyes and machine-gun hands. The Giant was forced to let go and Hal watched it fall to the floor and shatter as it hit the sand. Hal floated down to the ground as the building and gorilla disappeared.

"You finally are starting to understand, aren't you?" Sinestro asked.

"Yeah, me and Super-Kong are gonna go far." Hal grinned. Sinestro stared at him. "Go on, say it." Hal grinned.

"You want me to say it?" Sinestro prompted.

"Yes, of course i do." Hal laughed.

"Alright, 20 laps around the island, no flying, no running, use only your constructs." He said, patting Hal on the shoulder and walking away. Hal was left confused for a second, before turning around.

"Wait, wait, no. You're supposed to say "Good job, Hal, you're really starting to look like the Green Lantern" Not give me laps." He ranted.

"When you are team leader and training a Lantern, you get to choose how to compliment them. I compliment you by giving you more work." Sinestro smiled, before creating a deck-chair and sitting down in it. "Hop to it. We don't have all day. I've got you enrolled at Coast City Academy and you start tomorrow, we need to get to the shops and get your uniform.

Hal stopped dead in his tracks. "C... Coast... City Academy? How the HELL did y-"

"I'm VERY persuasive. Holly will start to get suspicious if i don't get you into formal education. Coast City Academy is supposed to be the best in the city. Anyway, you were there before for about a week, weren't you?" Hal raised a fist and scrunched his lips. He was never one for high society academies, he had been there when he was living next door to Carol. He knew that she still went there. Maybe this was for the best. After all, the Air Force had a minimum qualification requirement for its... Wait, why was he still thinking about going into the air force. He was the air force now. He could make anything he wanted, he could be anything he wanted. But his dad was a test pilot for the Air Force. He needed to follow him. It was his everything he had ever wanted, it kept him going before he had the ring... Yes, when this was all over, he was going to need a cover story, he was going to need a civilian identity, he was goi- "And yet you are still standing there... You are currently at 0 laps..." Sinestro yelled, derailing Hals train of thought like a B-17 bomber.

"yOu Are cURrEnTlY at 0 LaPs..." Hal muttered under his breath. before putting his ring forward and a Green Monster-Truck appeared. He jumped up into it and began to speed away. The Monster Truck was fast, way faster than any he had seen and he was having a great time, finally finishing the laps, he got out of the Monster Truck and it dissolved. Hal walked over to Sinestro. "Done. You happy now?" Sinestro looked down at his ring.

"Ecstatic." He replied with an evil smile.

"You're planning something..." Hal replied. Sinestro put on his poker face.

"Of course not. Come on, let's go." He replied. He rose into the air and slowly floated back towards land. Hal tried to float after him, but didn't leave the ground.

"Ummm... Help!" He called. Sinestro turned around.

"Oh no... You're out of energy." He said, feigning shock and concern. "How are you going to get back to land?" He put a finger on his chin and pretended to think. "Well, i wish i could help, but i don't know how much energy my own ring has left." He lied.

"You bastard, you knew this would happen!" Hal yelled at him.

"Well, if i'm a bastard, then you clearly don't need my help to get back to land." Sinestro said, pretending to look hurt. He stared at Hal, showing him exactly how this had to go.

"Master Sinestro, if you would be so kind as to help me get back to land, i would be eternally greatful." He said in his sweetest tone.

"Well, since you asked so nicely." Sinestro smiled, before pointing his ring forward and producing a Small child's toy car that was barely big enough for Hal to fit in. Hal stared at it.

"My hate you so much right now." He grunted.

"This lesson is called humility." Sinestro replied. Hal climbed inside of the car and Sinestro made it raise into the air and starting to fly away with it, before turning around. "Cheer up, i'm not going to make you go all the way back in that." He then produced the green battery for him.

"How the hell did you have that?" Hal asked.

"That is a secret i plan to keep. Let's just say that, these costumes don't have pockets and i still need to carry things." He replied. Hal climbed out of the car in a most undignified manner, before he grabbed the battery off of him.


	5. Bells & Holly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Indigo Ring make's itself known, by taking one of the most caring people that Hal knows.

Sinestro was sat at the computer in the lair, scanning the internet for mentions of the rings. Suddenly, an light started flashing as it showed that the door bell was being rung. A camera-feed popped up showing Detective Stewart at the door. He rolled his eyes, before heading up the stairs and re-adopting his disguise. He walked over to the door and opened it. "Hello... Can i help you?" He asked. Stewart flashed his badge.

"Detective Stewart, CCPD Special Victims unit. Is Hal here?" He asked. Sinestro stared at him.

"No he's at school, but i'm his new fos-"

"The gold one..." Stewart responded. Sinestro stared at him. "Hal finds a magic ring, gets adopted by someone, doesn't run away from them and then shows up with a partner?" Sinestro looked into Stewart's eyes, seeing that there was absolutely no way to bluff his way past this.

"You're a very sharp person, come in." He said, turning around. "Of course, now that you know who i am, i can't let you live." Stewart followed him in, regardless of whether Thomas was lying or not, power like that meant that if he wanted him dead, then there was nothing John could do to stop him. They went to the living room and sat down. "Can i offer you some refreshment?" He asked.

"I'm fine, thank you. What i do need is for you to keep Hal out of this Superhero business." He said, bluntly. They locked eyes again.

"That's not possible." Sinestro responded. "He wields the Green Ring of Will. It chose him and he has accepted it. There is nothing that i can do."

"Don't give me that destiny bullshit." Stewart responded. "I don't know who you are or what planet you come from, i don't know how you treat children there, but on this planet, we keep them out of war." Sinestro looked him up and down.

"You have seen the horrors of war... I know the look of a man concerned about his child." He got up and walked to the window, staring out at the street. "My daughter is currently fighting in a war on my homeworld. Trying to keep a despot called "Arkillo" from taking my people to war against the rest of the universe." He turned to Stewart. "I understand exactly how you feel, but i accepted the fact that she was going to fight that war and there wasn't a damn thing i could do to stop her. You need to accept that about Hal. I have never seen someone so eagerly take to the ring as Hal. He's had a taste of glory and he likes it." He leaned against the window and crossed his arms. "There are two kinds of people who take to the rings. There are people like you and me, the soldiers, the ones who know how to fight and know how to kill. Men like us make great lanterns... But then there are people like Hal. The young ones, the impressionable ones with all of the imagination in the universe and a need to do what is right... Those men become legends." Stewart looked down. "I wouldn't take that ring away from him, even if i wanted to. Because he is never going to stop fighting for what he believes in. If i take that ring away, then the only difference is that he's just going to be fighting without any means of winning."

"You... You seem to have figured him out quickly." John said.

"He reminds me of my little daughter..."

"Was she also stubborn, bull-headed, completely overconfident and always right, no matter how wrong they are?" Sinestro smiled.

"It's like you've known her all her life... And she still is all of those things." They sat for a minute.

"Can you promise me you'll keep him safe?" John asked, breaking the silence. Sinestro looked up.

"If i can't, then everything i have worked for will be for nothing and none of us will live long enough to mourn him. And by the way... Call me Sinestro..."

It was lunch time, Hal had come close to blowing his brains out during Math class. He found it hard to concentrate in school before, but now... It didn't even seem to matter. He was a Superhero, his job security was absolute. Maybe he should just skip out, do a little hero work. After all, he needed to act normal, and always used to skip out on school... As he was headed for the cafeteria, he slowed and then stopped, before turning around and heading for the front door. As he was about to push open, he felt himself stop and getting pulled back by his backpack.

"Wooow there squirt." Said a familiar womans voice. "Is someone planning on skipping out on lunch with his favourite girl?" She asked as she held him in place.

"Carol! Look, i was just heading out to-"

"Skip out on school? Bad boy." She grinned. At that point, the door opened and John walked through. "Uh oh, it's the po-po." Carol laughed. "Got him right here, officer." She called. Stewart approached them.

"Hal, just the man i was coming to see. Come with me, i'm going to take you for a ride." Carol starred at Hal for a second.

"Oh, wasn't being serious, but ok." She threw him into John's arms. John caught him and the two walked out together, to the squad-car.

"Get in." He called to Hal, before getting in the driver's seat. The car pulled away. "You want to get some MacDonald's?" He asked. "I mean, Horace went nuts because they were screwing him around..." They continued to drive for 5 minutes, Hal didn't say anything. "I said that we were going to talk later." There was more silence. "I talked with "Sinestro"" He said.

"So he told you?" Hal asked.

"Everything... But i want to tell you now, i'm not happy with you fighting bad guys."

"Hey, i've only faught 2 bad guys so far." He replied. They continued to drive.

"Look, i know i'm-" He started, before the radio began to chatter.

"All units, be advised, we have a 207 in progress at 29 Salsibury place. Code P."

"Need some back up?" Hal asked. Without missing a step, he pulled over.

"Not from you, get out and go back to school." He ordered. He then grabbed the radio "Detective Stewart, responding." He turned on the lights and sirens and drove away at breakneck speed. Running a few red lights and almost crashing twice, he finally reached Salsibury place and pulled his gun out and began to approach the door. He pushed it open, he could hear crying inside. He then saw a purple light flash and something ripped through the roof and shot away. He moved in, still hearing the crying of a man inside. The man rushed towards Stewart. "HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE 'EM!" He ordered. The man stopped.

"PLEASE, SHE TOOK MY DAUGHTER, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME!" He cried.

"Is the assailant still here?" John asked.

"NO, SHE'S GONE! THAT CRAZY BITCH TOOK HER!" The man broke down onto his knee's sobbing. John grunted, holstering his gun, before pulling the radio to his lips.

"This is Stewart. Perp is 135. Send forensics and backup." He said.

"Can i be of assistance, citizen?" Asked a voice, descending through the hole in the ceiling. John looked up with fuming anger to see The Green Lantern descending. The man fell over onto his backside and began shuffling back against the wall, terrified out of his mind. "Do not be afraid, i'm The Green Lantern, protector of the innocent, champion of will." He said. John looked at the man.

"He's a superhero." The man slowly got to his feet.

"Th-th-thanks..." He gulped hard. He then looked at Hal's chest. "Is... Is Holly related to you?" He asked. Hal stopped dead. Holly was the name of his social worker. How the hell did this guy know who he was?

"Who's Holly? Did you know the perp?" John asked.

"Y... Yes, she's our social worker... My wife is in jail for drug dealing... She was just checking up on us..." He took a big snort to get rid of the snot oozing from his nose. "She was staring at... Little Mary and..." He burst into tears again. "She started speaking in tongue's, some fucking mexican shit or something... Then she started glowing purple and had... That kind of costume." Hal looked down at his own costume. He flashed his ring around the room, a green light emanating.

"Where did this happen?" He asked. The man pointed through to another room. Hal floated into the room, flashing the ring everywhere. "You say it was Purple?" He asked. The man nodded. He then floated back and motioned John to come over. He whispered in his ear "This is weird, it says there is purple energy in there... But there is no purple ring... Just Red, Green, Blue, Gold, Indigo, Star Sapphire and Orange" He looked puzzled as John stared at him.

"Indigo is purple..."

"Oh... OH SHIT!" He threw his hands over his head. "I've gotta... No..." He straightened himself as he turned back to the father. "Have no fear, i'll search out this villain. Stay sharp, Detective, i will be in touch." He then flew out through the hole in the roof, following the energy trail that the Indigo had left as it escaped. He followed it down-town to see another apartment with a woman crying inside, with a hole in the roof. Floating down, he looked at the woman. "Did a woman in purple just fly through and steal your child?" He asked. The woman nodded. "Fret not, i'll return your child, i promise!" He called. This time the trail was much fresher. He followed it to another part of the city, this time to an apartment block. He arrived just in time to see Holly floating out of 4th story of an appartment building, 3 pods of purple energy following her. "STOP!" He called. Holly was carrying what looked like a sleeping child in her arms. A pair of green Gattling guns appeared next to him. "DROP THE KIDS AND WALK AWAY!" He yelled. Holly looked at him. Her eyes were glassy and glowing purple.

"Nok, Abin Sur..." She said, her arms raised as the child floated out of her hands and a construct of a beautiful woman surrounded her before forming into a pod. Behind Holly, a man ran to the hole in the apartment with a shotgun in his hands.

"GIVE MY BABY BACK YOU BITCH!" He pointed it at her. Holly's head cocked to the side.

"Murkasha ivitha esticos" She said, As he pumped the shotgun, A whisp of Indigo energy floated over to him and took the form of the same beautiful woman.

"K...Katie?" He asked. The woman kissed him on the forehead and he fell asleep, the gun went off as he dropped to the floor, shattering the construct, Hal seethed as he watched this, he couldn't shoot, if he did, then she might lose concentration and then the children would fall several stories.

"GOD DAMMIT, HOLLY, LEAVE THE KIDS ALONE!" He yelled, before rushing forward. She cocked her head again.

"Tibellu, Abin Sur? Imshaski dostach?" She asked. Several alien women appeared to him, he constructed a large sword, slashing them as they approached him, destroying them as he rushed forwards. Finally making it to Holly, the sword changed to a baseball bat with the words "Goodnight Irene!" running down the shaft, he swung it at her, when suddenly a Staff appeared in her hands and she blocked it. "Shakshaka, Abin sur!" She seemed to be getting frustrated now, ""Tubtak shumi aha Arin?" she asked.

"LOOK, LADY, I'VE NO CLUE WHAT THE HELL YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" He yelled, trying to swing the bat again and again, each swing getting easily parried by the bat.

"Hal..." A voice Hal had never heard before, but seemed oddly familiar. "Hal, don't fight it... These children are better off with the Tribe..."

"I'LL STOP FIGHTING WHEN YOU GIVE THE KIDS BACK!" He yelled. He summoned a boomerang and threw it off into the distance. He then summoned a second bat to keep swinging, he kept swinging, keeping her distracted, the boomerang came around the other side of the building, before Holly raised a hand and a construct dog jumped up and grabbed the boomerang in its mouth. Suddenly, a warm hand was placed on his shoulder, he turned and swung, but the bats went straight through the construct. It was a face he hadn't seen outside of his dreams. He hesitated as he tried to contemplate the face, before getting the staff to the back of his head and the world went black.

"Nok, Abin Sur" Was the last thing that he heard before allowing unconsciousness to take him.


	6. Bells & Holly Pt2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Holly continues her rampage, Hal, Sinestro and John find themselves separated.

Hal came to, it felt like he had fallen asleep in the shower, laying in the street with a man stood over him, his clothes soaked through from the, now pouring, rain. "Green Lantern you alright?" He asked, reaching down towards Hal's mask. Hal rolled over and gasped heavily, the rain running down the back of his head and dribbling off of his chin, he sneezed as a few water droplets had gone up into his sinuses.

"What the hell...?" He slowly struggled to his feet, the man helping him. He turned to see the man was actually John with an umbrella. "I..." There were police around, bright red and blue lights flashing through the downpour as he looked around. He shook his head.

"It's ok, take it easy and tell me everything."

"She was using weird constructs that looked like people. She was kidnapping children. Why the hell would she be doing that?" He asked. He thought back to what Sinestro had taught him about the ring colours. "Indigo is... Love?" He wracked his brain. "No, it's... Con... Com... Compassion! that's it. Why the hell would she be kidnapping children if she's now ruled by her compassion?"

"I've been asking around the victims. She's nabbed 6 more since you left me at the first ones house and we're trying to confirm a few more reports." He said. Hal stumbled a little as everything seemed so unreal right now. Like he had awoken from the most real dream he had ever had. "But i have a theory." Hal looked at him. "I know these people. They are all Holly's clients. All of them are single parents of young children." Hal nodded.

"So, she's convinced that these children would be better in her care than of their parents. So we just follow her cl-" At that point, Hal jumped in the air and rocketted away in a flash. John watched for a few seconds. Then immediately ran for his car, getting in and speeding away. Speeding through the pouring rain, Green Lantern's face was determined, he was one of Holly's clients, meaning that she would get to his house soon, if Sinestro was unprepared, he didn't want to think about what might happen. Floating high over his street, he saw the soft glow of the Indigo and a glow of gold near it. "Sinestro..." He gasped, the pouring rain pounding against him, but luckily, the green light seemed to keep him comfortable. Diving to the door, he rushed up the stairs to see Holly in the living room, with Sinestro sobbing uncontrollably as the beautiful woman he had seen in his first confrontation with her was holding Sinstro's head in her lap.

"I'M SORRY!" He sobbed. "I COULDN'T PROTECT YOU AND I COULDN'T SAVE ABIN!" Hal tried to rush forwards, but ran straight into a wall of Indigo energy.

"HOLD ON, GOLD, I'M COMING!" He yelled. a Pneumatic drill appeared and he started to drill into the wall. "I don't care who you are, my will is stronger than your compassion." He grunted. Holly approached Sinestro, her rod turning into a spear as she raised it. "GOOOOOOLD! SHE'S ABOUT TO KILL YOU!" Hal screamed. He looked around, desperately trying to figure something out. Then it hit him. he pulled the ring off and his green costume and aura disappeared. "HOLLY! ITS ME!" He screamed, waving his arms. "IM HERE!" He beat his fists against the wall. She turned around, the spear disappearing. "Alright... I'll go with you... But you've got to let him go..." Hal blurted out. He was visibly shaking. Holly cocked her head to the side.

"Ge Hal, decastu iesta srernt fe Arin yu Abin umtak." She said.

"I don't know what the hell you are trying to say..." Hal seethed. The Indigo wall disappeared and Holly began to approach him. A pair of constructs of beautiful, identical women that he didn't recognize began to approached him. This felt warm... Good... He was feeling sleepy...

"HOLLY!" Came a yell as John rushed through the door, pistol raised. "You've got to stop this."

"Nok, John Stewart. Hal tubtak shumi aha?" She waved to him.

"I don't know what the hell you have done with her, but if i have to pry that damn ring off of your fingers, i will to get her back. You are forcing her to do things she would never do." He said.

"Calanact caliou, Indigo 1 currish shmee bugraan." She stated. Indigo energy began to seep towards John, he shot at the energies, firing two rounds, before pointing it back at her.

"I can't stop you... I know i can't, but i am not going to just let you take every child you want." He said. Holly floated towards him.

"Tor lorek san, bor nakka mur,

Natromo faan tornek wot ur.

Ter Lantern ker lo Abin Sur,

Taan lek lek nok-Formorrow Sur."

She said as she approached. She smiled at him before she floated through the door, Hal now cocooned in a pod of indigo energy. Holly floated into the air and sped away. John stared at her, he wiped his nose, before running over to Sinestro.

"Come on, Gold Lantern, you need to get up." He wrapped his arms around Sinestro's chest and pulled him to his feet. Sinestro panted heavily, before staring at John.

"Did... Did Hal defeat her?" He asked.

"No, Hal's been caught. She's taking him to god-knows where. You need to help me track them down, because i've no idea what the hell is going on and you might." Sinestro wiped his nose, before looking at John.

"Alright..." Sinestro whispered. "Come with me... I'll track the Indigo energy to find where she's keeping them..." He slowly moved towards the cupboard under the stairs. Sinestro and Stewart made their way down to the lair. Stewart looked around in total awe. "How the hell did you get all of this down here?" He asked. Sinestro looked back at him with an eyebrow raised to question if John had even looked at him. "Right... Alien..." He nodded. Sinestro walked over to the computer and sat down, beginning to punch in commands, a map of the city appeared, showing different energies that had been active.

"How long has she been at this?" He asked.

"First kidnapping was about 12:15. It's been 4 hours now." He replied.

"The sensor's are showing a hell of a lot of Indigo energy all over the city, it's a smoke screen, there's no way to track it to its source right now... This doesn't make sense. The Rings that latch onto the unworthy let go quickly. I've never seen them hold onto a host for more than 2-3 hours, but she doesn't show any sign of slowing down." Sinestro continued to type away, trying different filters to see if he could narrow down where she has been from where she is heading.

"So... What did she make you see that broke you?" John asked.

"Don't ask a question you don't want to know the answer to." He replied. Sinestro placed his face into his palms and sighed heavily.

"What?" John asked, looking at the screen, not seeing any difference.

"There's nothing i can do from here..." He groaned. "Just prepare for when she strikes next. Go after her then... I won't be fooled by those constructs again..." He seethed. John looked over to the console to see the red ring.

"You're going to need backup on this." He said, walking over to the ring.

"Don't touch that ring..." Sinestro said, raising his own and pointing it at John.

"We don't have time for this, Hal and all of those other children are in danger and this," he pointed to his gun "Isn't going to be able to cut it. I'll need something to give me a chance against her." Sinestro stared at him, before walking over to the red ring and taking it out of the containment tube. He dropped it into Johns hand. It sat there.

"It hasn't chosen you. Your heart has too little rage in it." He said. He picked up the ring and put it back in the tube. "The rings choose their wielder, not the other way around." He then turned his attention back to the computer.

Green Lantern

Everything was purple... A deep, soothing purple. That was all that existed. Hal floated in this sea of calm. "What is... Going on?" He asked no-one in particular.

"You are safe." A voice that sounded almost like Holly's said, but there was something wrong with the voice... Distorted a little. But Hal was finding it hard to assosiate the voice...

"Oh... Good..." He muttered, trying to concentrate. Everything was difficult to focus.

"Yes, safe. Now, let's rejoin the others." She said. Hal smiled as everything became clear, he walked into a wide open field, the other children were running around, screaming and laughing as they chased each other. It looked so nice here. It was nice to be with his family. He walked into the field. Little Mary ran past him, followed by Joseph.

"Wow, slow down or you'll hurt yourself." He laughed, calling after her. Hal looked around, something seemed... Off... It was probably nothing. He continued to walked through the field. He then saw Janie sat crying. That was strange, he had known this little girl his entire life and she had never cried before. He walked over to her. "Janie, what's wrong?" He asked. She sniffled back a tear.

"I miss my daddy..." She cried. Hal put an arm around her. Her daddy... What did she mean by... Hal grabbed his head as something began to hurt. "DADDY!" She cried. Hal stared around,

"This... This is wrong..." He got to his feet, just in time to see Indigo energy swarm around Janie, before she was pulled to her feet. She then laughed and began to run back to the fun, as though she had never been crying to begin with. She turned back to him.

"Hal, come join us!" She called, waving. Hal looked around. at everything... This wasn't real.

"No... You go ahead." He said. He then looked down at his hand. "HOLLY!" He called out. "It's time to end this!" Balling his hand into a fist, he tried to summon the ring.

"I wouldn't do that if i were you..." Said the voice

"Of course you wouldn't. Because you never want to leave this fantasy..." He grunted, desperately calling to the ring. "Come on..." Indigo energy surrounded him. "COME ON! I WILL NOT GO DOWN WITHOUT A DAMN FIGHT!"

"Your will is strong, Hal... But you're not in a world where your ring can reach you... Maybe you need to feel more at home." Everything started to change.

"DON'T! NO!" He screamed as everything went black.


	7. A Little Downtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle with Holly continues as Sinestro and Jon work together to try and save Hal.

Oa, the great home of the Green Lantern corps, the police of the entire universe. Hal Jordan had recently arrived as the brand new recruit to the Corps, along with his mentor Sinestro, a fellow Green Lantern. The pair of them stood before the Guardians of the Universe, diminuitive blue people with white hair that floated in the air. They wore red robes with the Green Lantern logo in the center. The one known as Ganthet floated to the front. The Guardians were known for their holier-than-thou attitude, but Ganthet was known for his more gentle and nurturing approach to the Lanterns. "Sinestro, it is with great pain that we finally accept the death of Abin Sur into the annals of the Oan Great Archive. But as with all Lanterns, a new light shall rise to take his place and bring light to dark. Step forward, Hal Jordan of Sector 2814." Called the central Guardian. Hal stepped forward, bringing his hand up. "Speak the oath and join our ranks."

"In brightest day, in blackest night  
No evil shall escape my sight  
Let those who worship evil's light,  
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!" He called.

The immense green battery behind the Guardians began to glow and Hal was engulfed by a beam of light. "Feel honoured, Hal Jordan. Your gift shall give you the power to save countless. You shall bring law to the lawless, dethrone tyrants and you shall bring peace." The Guardian Called. Hal looked around. Of course he knew this place very well, he had spent several months here training under the tutelage of Sinestro, but also, his best friend that he could NEVER imagine his life without, the large Bolovaxian chief Green Lantern Cadet trainer, Killawog. Bolovaxians were large, bipedal creatures, a deep pink skin, very large and intimidating and with a face that looked somewhere between a Hippopotamus and a Pug. "You shall receive your first orders as a full fledge member of our order soon. Please, take some time to celebrate" Gathet ordered. As Hal turned back to the Guardians, he looked saw that Ganthet's clothes had changed. The red robe had been replaced by a Red Trenchcoat and a blue tie that adorned a new symbol, very different to Green symbol he was familiar with. "Hal... This isn't real..." He whispered. His voice was different, almost taking an Indian accent to it. "Have hope and you shall escape." He nodded.

"What did you say?" Asked Hal. As he blinked, Ganthet was back to normal.

"I said to go and celebrate with your friends. I shall join you shortly." He smiled. Hal shook his head. That was weird, but probably just some residual effect from the Grand Battery zapping him. He walked with Sinestro and Killawog.

"I say we grab Tomar, head down to Bolovax and i'm gonna treat both-a-ya's to da best and MEANEST drinks that ever crawled outta the gutters of the most deadly bars in the universe. Then, after a stomach pump, we go for round 2." Killawog laughed. Tomar appeared as if from no-where next to Hal. Tomar was a goldish orange coloured alien with a large fin on his head and a chicken-like beak, with a fairly skinny body. Tomar had been the very first friend that Hal had made here, but Tomar's friendly demenor made him one of the most well-liked of all of the Green Lanterns. No wonder it was his duty to greet all new recruits.

"It has been quite some time since i have gone drinking with you, Killawog, and that's because i think i've just about gotten over the hangover from the last time." Tomar stated, he spoke eloquently and to the point. He turned to Hal, his costume, changing to blue, with the symbol again appearing. "Hal, she can only hold you here if you want to be held." Tomar said.

"Tell me how to escape" Hal asked.

"Escape?" Tomar replied, his costume being back to normal. "The only escape from one of Killawogs drinking sessions is to animate your own liver and beg it to wave the little white flag." He smiled.

"And there is NO escaping for our bet." Sinestro replied. "I said that if you passed, your final test would be to drink Killawog under the table. I do not envy your stomach or head in the morning... Or the entire rest of your body to think of it."

"And who pulled the stick out of your butt?" Hal laughed, Tomar and Ganthets words of warning slipping away from him almost instantly.

****  
Sinestro

****  
Sinestro and John sat staring at the computer, waiting to see if the Indigo energy would dissipate. "Are you sure there is nothing better that you can do?" John asked.

"Not unless you know how how to track her." Sinestro stated, not moving. "I'm just as worried about him as you are."

"Yeah, but are you as worried about him as you are that ring on his hand?" John asked. Sinestro didn't move. "You've known him for all of a week, i've been looking after that kid, on the streets, for 7 years. So, i highly doubt you are as worried about him as you are about that ring."

"I understand that you are upset, so i will let that obviously inflammatory statement die there and then, do not repeat it." Sinestro said. "If i cared only for the ring, i would not have invited him to live with me." John kept his eyes narrowed on the alien.

"Nuts to this, i'm going to track him down the old fashioned way." John turned around and walked to the door. "You coming?" He asked. Sinestro said nothing and didn't move. John sighed, before walking out of the house. As he got upstairs, he noticed that the house was relatively fixed. "What the hell..." Nothing would indicate that, just an hour before, a possessed, superpowered social worker had torn this place to hell. He walked out of the door and to his car, opening the door and getting in, he sat, before putting his head on the steering wheel and thinking. He turned the keys and the car roared to life, before he began to drive. No particular place, just driving, trying to think of anything that he knew about her and where she might be able to keep a bunch of children without anyone getting suspicious.

"Help..." A voice came to John, he looked around.

"What the hell?" He asked. He suddenly felt a twinge of something.

"Help, John Stewart..." It wasn't Hal's voice. But there was something familiar. He immediately turned the car around and put on the lights and sirens.

****  
The Green Lantern

****  
Hal and the other Green Lanterns sat down at the bar, it had been a surprisingly quick trip to Bolovaxia. Immediately, Carol Ferris approached him. "So, stud, what'll it be tonight?" She asked in a sultry voice that... Well, didn't really belong on her.

"Uh-" Before Hal could answer. Sinestro leaned over.

"a round of Badoonian Louse-Spit." He ordered. As Carol turned and walked away, Hal couldn't help but get the feeling that... Something was off... Maybe something Tomar had said... Probably nothing. He watched Carol walk over to the Bartender, another friend of his, Jon Stewart. That guy had been a loyal friend helping him get through boot-camp. Stewart shot him a pair of thumbs-up and a wink, before calling to him.

"HOLD ON HAL, I'M ON MY WAY!" Hal managed to make out over the loud music and aliens talking and dancing. The lights seemed to be changing around here. Blue... Indigo... Blue... Indigo... It was as if the lights were wrestling with one another. Hal got up.

"I'm gonna check what's on the Juke-box." He walked through the crowd, aliens all around him were having a good time. As he approached it, he saw a list of songs.

I Want To Break Free by Queen  
Escape by Rupert Holmes  
We Gotta Get Out of This Place by The Animals  
Getaway by Earth, Wind & Fire  
Breakout by The Foo-Fighters  
You Got To Run by Buffy Sainte-Marie & Tanya Tagaq  
Freedom by Pharrel Williams  
Fly Away From Here by Aerosmith  
Rescue Me by Fontella Bass

Something was... No, every time he thought that, something happened and he stopped thinking about it. He looked around. Suddenly he was in Carol's arms as they were slowly dancing on the floor to the sounds of If You Leave Me Now by Chicago. Hal looked around at the others, Sinestro, Killawog and Tomar were all giving him a thumbs up. "I... Can't stay here..." Hal sighed.

"Of course you can." Carol said. "Here, you have everything you've ever wanted. You have Sinestro and Killawog and Tomar and Jon... And you have a family. Most importantly, you have me... As she said that, her waitress outfit changed to a slinky, pink satin dress covered entirely sequins. "You have absolutely EVERYTHING that you have ever wanted. So, why not stay?" Hal looked at her, she was so beautiful. He let a tear roll down his cheek.

"Because... I know it's not real." He stiffled back any more tears. "But... Let's finish this song. It's a dream i don't want to forget anytime soon. I'm gonna make this into a reality." He said, his ring beginning to glow brightly. As the song faded away, Carols mouth opened as Indigo energy poured from it, trying to engulf him. But Jon appeared in front of him, along with Ganthet and Tomar, they were all dressed in the blue outfit.

"Green Lantern Hal... All will be well, Hal. Just speak the oath..." Everything seemed much clearer now. Hal raised his hand up.

"In brightest day, in blackest night,  
No evil shall escape my sight!  
Let those who worship evil's might  
Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

The world erupted in green light and then...

Hal awoke, wrapped in the Indigo light, he was in his Green Lantern outfit. He grinned as he brought the ring up, a green buzz-saw appearing and cutting through the Indigo cocoon. He poked his head through to see they were in a warehouse. 10 other cocoons were in a circle around Holly who was in the center, meditating. Hal floated up silently and slowly moved towards her. If he could get the ring, then he could end this now. As he approached the ring, suddenly, her eyes opened and she smiled at him.

"Abin, yi fostew li mesta." She said. Hal floated backwards as she stepped out of the circle, following him, but leaving the children.

"Heh, stupid move!" Hal grinned. He could now go all out without having to worry about the kids caught in the crossfire. A pair of huge, green gatlings appeared on his shoulders as he flew to the side of her and opened fire. she raised an barrier of indigo, but the barrage of green was relentless. He charged in, the Gatlings morphing into a pair on the side of a monster truck that charged at her, smashing straight through the indigo shield, he smashed straight through the walls of the warehouse with her on the bonnet. As ehty got outside, Hal could hear the pounding rain on the outside of the construct, the skies almost black from the rainclouds. The Monster-truck turned into a tank with her on the end of the gun, it fired, sending her propelling away at immense speeds and creating a visible shockwave in the rain from the recoil force. Hal burst out of the tank and followed her, she finally regained composure, staring at him, she waved her staff around her head and an immense whale appeared, lunging for Hal. Hal, in response, created the giant gorilla form around himself, grappling the whale, he threw himself over it, using the momentum to fly high enough to get next to Holly, before the Gorilla swung its fists around in a double-axe-handle blow to her, she tried to block with the shield, but again, it was shattered and she was sent spiralling down to the floor. Hal descended through the sky to the empty parking lot, just outside of the warehouse. "Alright, Holly. Just give up the ring, nice and easy."

She opened her eyes and tried to fly, but he quickly snapped a large ball and chain around her ankles, then another to wrists, she struggled in her bonds as Hal moved around to her hands to grab the Ring. As he did, the constructs disappeared, as did Hal's costume. He looked down at himself. "Oh no, not again." He paniced as he looked at her, his clothes almost instantly soaking through as he felt the biting cold. She raised up again, smiling as the alien women appeared around him. "I'M NOT GOING BACK THERE!!!" Hal screamed as he rushed forwards and tried to tackle her, only to be caught in the constructs arms and he fell asleep again. She smiled as she looked down at Hal's sleeping form, before hearing the screeching of tires. She looked around to see Johns cruiser speeding towards her, she quickly had the constructs carry Hal out of the way, before waving the ring and an elephants foot stamped down on the front of the car, crushing the engine and bringing it to an instant halt. She turned back to Hal, only to hear the sound of the door of the car fall off. She turned around again, to see John stumbling out of the car.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!!!" John shouted, the rain loud enough to almost drown out his threat. He pulled his gun. "I'm not going to stop hunting you... I'm never going to give up." He said. Holly stared at him before approaching, he pulled the trigger, she easily deflected the bullet. At that point, a Blue light flashed. John and Holly looked around to see Hal and the constructs gone. John took this opportunity to rush and tackle Holly to the soaked ground, splashing on the concrete, he tried desperately to get the ring off of her finger, but she was stronger and not nursing a concussion, getting the upper hand. As she just began to point the ring at John, Hal landed on her in a groggy state, grabbing ahold of her hair and pulling it as John wrenched the ring off of her finger. Holly fell unconscious as well. The pair of them rolled over and lay, painting heavily as the sky pelted their faces with raindrops. "You... Doing good, Hal?" He asked.

"Yup..." He sighed. "Had her on the ropes... Then the ring... ran out of... Juice..." He panted heavily. The indigo ring began to raise into the air. "Aw damn..." Hal grunted. This meant that they would have to do this again later. But for the moment, he was content with just laying and regaining his strength. The Ring looked at John, "Oh... Hot... Damn..." He grunted. "John... Can you run?" He asked. "Because... Give it a... Minute... I think you're... Gonna kidnap me..." He gasped, trying to shift himself to roll over. As the Ring moved towards John, a blue ring of energy appeared around the ring. "Uh oh..." Hal sighed. He rolled over to see where the ball was being generated from, only to see a glowing blue light. He could also see a strange outline, like a man with an elephants head. "What in the..." He sighed. The Indigo ring floated towards the elephant man.

"Excellent." The voice said. "I will keep this safe. Thank you for your help, Green Lantern." The accent was strange, an eastern accent could be heard in it. The rain and the glow of the light made making out faces difficult, but not impossible. He could see tusks, but apart from that, he couldn't see much else. He watched the elephant man take to the skies and fly away Hal watched a gold light approach as he slowly slipped back into unconsciousness.


	8. A Brief Reprieve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hal recovers from his ordeal with the Indigo Ring and starts his investigation into the Blue Lantern, but things go awry when the Red Ring breaks loose.

Hal awoke in a strange room. He looked down to his finger to see a clamp on it. He pulled it off and looked around. His ring was gone... Was he back in the dream world? If this was the dream world, then why did his head hurt like hell? He looked around and saw Thomas asleep next to him. He reached out and put a hand on him. Thomas immediately opened his eyes. "Good, you're awake." He replied.

"I thought you said the ring would heal me up quick?" Hal asked.

"It would, which is why I took the ring." Thomas replied, reaching into his jacket pocket and retrieving the green ring. "Cant have you healing too quick or they might get suspicious." He pocketed the ring again.

"I'm happy for them to be suspicious." Hal groaned, reaching out. The Ring began to float out of Thomas' pocket. Thomas grabbed it, before slapping Hal's hand. "Owwww." He groaned.

"Then obey my wishes." Thomas scolded. "Me and Officer Stewart can only do so much to protect you." He then looked down at Hal "That being said, I talked with Officer Stewart about your battle with Holly... Good work." He smiled. "You used everything I taught you, except watching your rings power. They are finicky devices and you need to keep them in check. Nonetheless, you faced down another Lantern and you came out on top."

"What about that Blue light?" He asked. "I remember a Blue light. Is it possible that the Blue ring has found its host? How do we know it's not a bad guy that's gonna wig out like Horace and Holly?" He asked. He started to try and get up, but Thomas placed his hand on Hal's chest o stop him.

"The Blue ring is the least of our troubles." He smiled. "Hope is the most incorruptible power in the universe. I personally think that makes it the strongest ring of all... except the White ring..."

"White?" Hal asked. Thomas shook his head.

"Dont concern yourself." He replied "Its an old wives tale. But rest assured that the Blue ring will refuse to fall into the hands of anyone that is anything other than pure of heart. Even if it isnt the true host." Hal lay back into the hospital bed.

"Who's Killawog?" Hal asked. Sinestro seemed to be caught completely off guard by the question. Hal looked at him. "You know that name, it's clear from the look on your face." Thomas sat down in the chair again.

"He was a former Green Lantern. He was Abins mentor." He replied. "Where did you hear the name?" He asked.

"The Indigo ring put me into some kind of dream realm. I was a member of some kind of... Army of Green Lanterns. Not the 7 Lanterns, but the Green Lantern specifically." Thomas seemed to have his poker face on. "Is there something you aren't telling me?" He asked.

"Lots of things." Thomas replied without even skipping a beat. "But nothing that will put you in danger. The Indigo ring simply wanted you to be happy. So it used the memories that it had to create a world where you had the Green Lantern powers and had a family to support you. Trust me, armies are some of the best family you can have. Why do you think you are so desperate to join the US Airforce? Let me guess, it probably told you about the Guardians as well then?" He asked. Hal settled back down. "They are the supposed creators of the Rings, but they've been dead a long time." Everything Sinestro was saying made perfect sense.

"It's... It's weird... I've actually met these people, but it feels like... It's like i've known them my entire life. How the hell can i miss people i've never even known? I want Ganthet to come along and say something funny, i want to have a laugh with Killawog, i want to play Strategema with Tomar. I WANT TO DO STUFF I'VE NEVER DONE BEFORE WITH PEOPLE THAT DON'T EXIST!!!" He pulled the pillow over how own face and screamed.

"The Indigo ring gave you what it thought you most needed..." He patted Hal on the shoulder "Get some rest, we'll talk about it more when you're discharged." As he got up to walk away.

"Who was the woman?" Hal asked him. Sinestro stopped for a second. "Your mother?" He asked. Sinestro gritted his teeth and grunted.

"She was my wife..." He then walked away without another word.

****

Hal had spent a week recovering fully, but despite the physical injuries going, his mental ones stayed. The memories of his old friends began to fade until they just became names without faces. Sinestro had been increasingly distant ever since his recovery, Hal suspected that he didn't like showing weakness in front of his pupil. He had been back at school for a week now, his grades were hovering around average and he was slowly going to sleep in a History class. "Turn to page 342, i do want to touch on the Superhuman element of WWII." His teacher sighed. "Everyone of course knows Captain America and Wonder Woman, but America was not the only nation providing the superpowered individuals to the war effort. Anyone want to name any others?"

"G.I. Robot!"

"Human Torch!"

"Wolverine!" Hal was simply looking at the pictures in his book... When he stumbled across a picture labelled "Mutants in the Indian Army May 2nd 1945" One of them looked human, one was covered in leaves and foliage and the middle one was a large elephant-man missing a horn... The exact same man he had seen when he was saved... But he would be almost, if not over, 100 years old by now... Maybe his mutant power included some kind of life enhancement. Elephants were already pretty long lived creatures for their size... Or, maybe he is this guys son. Maybe-

"Mr Jordan, want to tell us one?" He asked. Hal stuck his head up.

"Ummm... Superman?" He asked. There were some chuckles.

"Mr Jordan, if you would like to stay behind after class, i'm certain that we can discuss it in greater detail." Another round of laughter followed this.

****

As Hal made his way home, he was in no real hurry to get home so that Sinestro could continue to sit in the lair and barely say a word to him. As he made his way around to his old haunt, he looked down the alley and remembered actually coming into possession of the ring. He could almost see the goons he had taken out. As he walked down the alley, he actually noticed a little of his own blood that the clean-up crew had missed. "Been a while..." At that point, he heard a clattering from behind him, Hal immediately turned and his Ring appeared on his finger. "Hello? Joe, that you?" He called. There was a rustling and he slowly made his way back down the alley. "Well, Green Lantern was born here, makes sense i die here too..." He whispered under his breath. Another clatter and he looked around. Being that nobody was around, he summoned his Green Lantern suit. He crept over to a box that was rustling. "Who the hell?" He asked nobody in particular, before he heard a low growl... Then a hiss. Then, in a flash, he suddenly had something furry and grey attacking his face. He quickly created a shield between his face and the furry thing. "YOU'RE NOT LAYING EGGS IN MY CHEST YA ALIE-" He then spotted who it was. "Dex?" He asked, he curled the shield into a ball that held the furry thing which he now recognized as a cat. Thick, yet short, Russian blue fur. The cat clawed and hissed at the green ball that it was trapped in. "Dex, it's me!" He said to the ball. Dropping the Green Lantern costume, he slowly put the green ball to the ground. Dex sat staring at Hal for a second. "It's me. Look, i know, it's weird, but i've had a bath, which is why i don't smell like sewage!" He let the green ball disappear as he pocketted the ring. "Hey, Dex." He cooed lovingly to him. Putting his finger to the angry cat's nose. It sniffed, before staring at him and meowing loudly, then pushing it's cheek into Hal's hand. He picked up the cat and began stroking it. "Good boy... Been a while. Sorry about that, i've been doing stuff and... Well, i don't want to say i forgot you, but between murderous normal guys and kidnapping social workers, it's been a hell of a time... Come on, let's get you home, because, boy, i may not smell like sewage anymore, but you sure do." He held the cat under it's front legs and held him in front of his face. "Are we going to have a bath without painting the walls with my blood? I don't think so." He cooed lovingly as Dexter sat, accepting it's role in life and purring, not entirely understanding the idea of baths.

As Hal got back to the house with Dexter under his arm, he opened the door to see Sinestro stood immediately behind it. "I..." Hal began, but Sinestro stared at him.

"You should have been back long ago." He then looked at the cat in Hal's arms. "If you want a pet, fine, have it, but do not allow it to disturb our work. There are 3 rings out there that we have no idea where they are." He turned around and began to walk back to the lair. As Hal got in through the door, he dropped Dexter and locked the door behind them.

"Alright, Dex. You get the lay of the house, and don't poop in Sinestro's shoes, he'll probably eat you. I'm not sure how cats work on his planet." Hal whispered. He then got up and walked with Sinestro. "I have not ONLY been getting a cat, i've been doing research on the Blue Lantern."

"And what did you learn?" Sinestro asked.

"Well..." Hal quickly tried to think of anything he had learned when he was in school. "Umm..."

"Obviously not much."

"Well, i learned that there are some Elephant looking mutants that served in the Indian army during WWII." He said. Sinestro thought for a second.

"Ah yes, the last major conflict of your world." He said. "Maybe they have something to do with it, but there's other explaination. There's an alien race from Sector 2 that look like the pachyderms of this world. And anyway, if he faught in that major conflict he would be over 100 of this planets solar cycles, he'd be dead by now." He sighed. Hal tried to think. "It's an interesting line of thought, maybe look into it later, but for now, focus on maintaining your normal facade. They are going to be watching you more closely after that event with the social worker."

"Look, Sinestro, i-"

"If you wish to say anything to comfort me about my display of weakness, then say nothing." He snapped. Hal put his hands up to indicate he had dropped the conversation.

"So, you've been down here for weeks, any leads on the other rings?" Hal asked.

"Sadly, they seem to be disappearing as fast as they are appearing. Draining through people fast. Although i believe the Star Sapphire one is most likely to..." As he trailed off, he walked over to the console and saw that the Red ring was acting more erratically. "What's this?" He tapped a few buttons on the console, bringing up power readings. "The Red Ring is building up energy..." He continued to tap away. "This is impossible, it doesn't have access to it's Lantern, there is no way that it should be able to be doing this unless-" They both looked as the ring began beating against the glass casing even harder than before.

"Unless what?" Hal asked. "Quick!" Sinestro pressed a large red button and the glass casing folded back into the console, the red ring shooting up the stairs. "WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"Unless it's found it's champion." Sinestro smiled. Hal's ring appeared, as did his costume as he rushed up the stairs. Seeing the ring floating in front of Dexter, as the cat playfully pawed it, Hal rushed in with a construct baseball bat and smashed the ring.

"GET AWAY FROM MY CAT!!!" He roared, as the ring smashed straight through the window of the front door. "Sinestro, we gotta get after it, come on!" He called. Sinestro finally made it up the stairs and was in full costume. "Alright, let's go." Sinestro shook his head before following Hal out of the door as they rocketed into the sky. Chasing the ring, they quickly lost sight of it, they hovered high above the city and put their rings out which began to scan the city. "You got anything?" Hal asked.

"Not ye... Wait, yes, i've got it." He began heading back down into the city, followed closely by Hal. They finally reached a large warehouse where a glowing red light was seen through the windows. As the pair burst in through the window, they heard.

"Together With Our Righteous hate,  
We'll burn all evil--that is your fate!" a voice roared.

"Crap!" Hal groaned. "Not this again!" He said, looking to see a thug surrounded by his unconscious allies and an unconscious man tied to a chair. "Alright, time for another fight." Hal grinned. Summoning his twin-gatlings, he began blasting away at the man, who immediately took off towards Hal, his red ring creating a spiked ball that apperared out in front of him, bouncing the bullets out of the way as he flew. Sinestro took this opportunity to flank him, flying behind him and lashing golden tendrils around the goon, Hal broke the Gatlings as he summoned a baseball bat, he slammed the bat into the goon, sending him flying against the back wall, he opened his mouth and began vomitting red lava, blasting it across the warehouse. Hal dropped to the floor and created a shield to protect the unconscious people around, whilst Sinestro jumped up to grapple him, pulling him into a full-nelson.

"GET OFF OF ME PATHETIC GOLDEN CHILD!!! I SPIT ON YOU AND YOUR CORPSE!!! LET ME GO, LET ME RIP, LET ME TEAR!!!!" He screamed, blasting Lava from his mouth. Hal used his Green energy to create a barrier around the goon's mouth, making the lava-vomit blast back on himself. It screamed louder and angrier, before finally powering out of Sinestro's hold, swinging the Gold Lantern around and hitting Hal with him. He screamed as he held Sinestro above his head and roared an evil laughter. "HAHAHAHAH!!! EVIL WILL FALL BEFORE ME!!!"

"We're the good-guys you idiot!" Hal yelled as he picked himself up. Constructing a giant boxing glove, he sent it hurtling towards the Red Lantern, just as the goon brought Sinestro down on his knee.

"BREA-OOOF!" He roared as theb boxing glove sent him flipping a full 270 degree's backwards, landing on his front. A scream of utter rage rang out as Sinestro started to get back to his feet. He grunted in frustration as he began to march towards the Red Lantern. The Goon got up and immediately, red spike constructs appeared all over his body. Sinestro didn't seem to care as he advanced. The goon charged him and Sinestro summoned a yellow barrier around himself, As the Goon hit the barrier, Sinestro's eyes started to glow golden, yellow tendrils burst from the barrier and completely engulfed the Red Lantern, wrapping around him and he began to scream in incoherent rage, desperately trying to break free, but every time he managed to wrench his arm free of one of the golden appendages, 8 more seemed to wrap around and pull it back down as a pair of sharp tendrils seemed to close in on the goon's eyes. Sinestro grinned a little.

"Wow, calm down, Hannable!" Hal cried as he arrived at the scene. Reaching into the swirling mass of yellow tendrils, he managed to grab and wrench the ring from the goon's finger, the red lantern costume disappeared and the goon fell unconscious. "What the hell was that? He's innocent!" Hal shook his head as he created a green bubble around the red ring. Sinestro allowed the barrier and tendrils to disappear, before floating towards Hal

"I'm... I don't know what came over me. Maybe a little of the Red Ring energy got into me somehow?" He wasn't looking Hal in the eye and the tone of his voice made Hal think Sinestro knew more important things than he was letting on.

"He mentioned the Corps again. That's what they called the Green Lanterns in my dream." Hal asked.

"Some worlds refer to the Lanterns as the Corps. I think that, at one point in the teams history, they worked as the military force for some world. Not entirely sure, can't ask the ones who might know..." He finally looked Hal in the eyes. "Learn to let go of your suspicions. They cloud your will and weaken you. The Lanterns are only as strong as their weakest link and if we want any hope of defeating Despero, then we cannot afford such weaknesses." He grunted. "That being said, i am curious why the Ring reacted so badly... I have only ever seen that happen when it finds a suitable champion. Hmmm... I'll need to study it more." He created a yellow bubble around Hal's green bubble that held the ring and began to float up to the window they had crashed through. Hal took the time to untie the man tied to the chair that the goon was interrogating.

"Oh no. SERIOUSLY! AGAIN!?" Hal cried. Sinestro turned around to see Hal picking the man up.

"You know this being?" Sinestro asked.

"Yup, an old buddy from the street. Meet local con-man Hector Hammond. Dammit, you get home, i'm gonna take him to a hospital." As they took off in seperate directions, Hal wondered exactly what other lies Sinestro had been telling him.


End file.
